“Zere” is the full-length debut of Kazakhstani director Dauren Kamshibaev. The movie was made with the assistance of the students from Taraz Film School, a free movie school founded by him.
The fisherman Kadyr has drowned at work. The local wastrel Makosh threatens his bereaved family that he will announce the late man's debt on the day of his funeral, putting shame on his family. Kadyr's widow Sarah (Olga Landina) finds a way to pay it off which involves her daughter Zere (Adina Bazhan), but her plan falls apart when her late husband's brother arrives.
Looking at “Zere”, one would never guess that it is made with the help of students from the director's movie school. Each scene is created with a great attention to detail. Many of them are nearly perfect, their symmetrical composition and use of color at times reminding of the work of Wes Anderson. The static camera observes the characters in the forefront and the back with a detached interest, the mise-en-scene is rustic yet clean, with everything, especially in Kadyr's house, creating a sense of harmony. The editing, too, is slow and unobtrusive, allowing the scenes to take their time playing out. This all creates a strong sense as if time has stopped at this remote, almost uninhabited place.
The visual appeal of the movie, however, is also one of its biggest problems. It is obvious that Dauren Kamshibaev has tried to create a deep and brooding human drama. The story starts with death and from there only goes darker, all of the characters walk, speak, and act as if they have the weight of the world on them. Every line is delivered slowly by the actors as if they are saying something important and are tormented by the mere idea of talking or seeing one another; their every snail paced movement unrealistic and fake in a very unappealing way. As if pretending to say something grand all the while saying nothing at all.
In one of the most ridiculous scenes in the entire film, which coincidentally or not is among the most important ones in “Zere”, the mother and uncle of the eponymous girl speak. The uncle is standing near the entrance of their small house, his body contorted in what is probably one of the most uncomfortable positions a person can stay in, looking at the mother, who is standing at the other end of the frame. Her body is also contorted. They speak in the movie's snail pace, looking at different directions (the instances in which two characters speak while looking at each other can be counted on the fingers of a single hand), their eyes looking who knows where. It is theatrical and unnatural in the most unappealing way possible because it doesn't say or mean anything. One cannot but think that the scene is shot like that simply because it looks “good”.
This problem goes deeper, though. Almost everything in the script of the movie seems to also be included simply for its own sake. For an example, the family is shown as hermit-like luddites, Zere's brother not having seen even earphones. And, yet, this plays absolutely no role in the story, nor in the chracterization of the protagonists. It looks like it is there simply so they can build a nice house and shoot the movie at a scenic location, nothing else. Just like this entire incredibly difficult to recommend film.
